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New South Wales Department of Education and Training Selects Adobe for Digital Education Revolution Initiative
Friday 24. April 2009 - Initiative to Teach 21st Century Skills to Australian Students
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education and Training will provide Adobe design, development, photo-editing, video and collaboration software to students and faculty in its kindergarten through 12th grade schools and TAFE vocational education and training institutes. The selection of Adobe software is part of the joint federal and state government Digital Education Revolution initiative, which contributes sustainable and meaningful change to teaching and learning in Australian schools, by providing students with skills they need to live and work in a digital world.
The contract, valued at approximately $20 million Australian, will provide Adobe software to 741,000 NSW government K-12 students, 50,000 K-12 teachers, 500,000 TAFE students, and 10,000 TAFE teachers. Year nine through 12 secondary school students will receive netbooks preloaded with various Adobe software combinations, including Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Premiere Elements, Adobe Captivate, Adobe Contribute, and Adobe Acrobat Pro. Additionally, classroom and lab machines across K-12 schools and TAFE campuses will be equipped with Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Adobe Creative Suite Web Standard or Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection. The Department of Education and Training has also licensed Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro software for Web conferencing and teacher training, and Adobe Flash Media Server software to provide streaming video and real-time communication.
“NSW public schools lead Australia in providing computer resources, giving our teachers and our young people the vital skills they need to help them succeed in the 21st century,” said NSW Premier Nathan Rees. “The combination of the hardware and the software contracts we have signed will open our classrooms up to the world. Using this software, teachers and students will be able to create videos and presentations, edit photos, and collaborate on class assignments and projects.”
“Adobe has participated in several efforts around the globe to integrate technology in large education systems. This effort in NSW represents a bold step forward by simultaneously addressing career and technical education, cross-curricular use of technology and teacher professional development,” said Julian Quinn, vice president, Asia Pacific at Adobe. “Adobe is proud to participate in a comprehensive effort to improve student learning at this scale.”
To ensure a successful roll-out, the government is investing in teacher training, teaching resources, technical and curriculum support. New South Wales will incorporate the standards-aligned resources from Adobe into its modern approach to teaching and learning.